Lloyd Dumas: Difference between revisions

Dumas was born in [[Mount Barker, South Australia]], the fourth child and youngest of three sons of Amelia Dumas, née Paltridge, (died 1 November 1938) and [[Charles Dumas (newspaperman)|Charles M. R. Dumas]] (1851–1935), who founded the [[The Courier (Mount Barker)|Mount Barker ''Courier'']]. A grandmother was a sister of Mount Barker pioneer [[John Dunn (miller)|John Dunn]] and his grandfather, Victor Dumas, ran a highly praised private school in Mount Barker. AnyThere familyis no confirmed connection with the great French novelist [[Alexandre Dumas|French literary family]] is as yet conjectural.

He was educated at Mount Barker and [[Victor Harbor, South Australia|Victor Harbor]] and in 1904 won a scholarship to the Teachers' College.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88382378 |title=Bursaries and Exhibitions |newspaper=[[The Chronicle (Adelaide)|The Chronicle]] |location=Adelaide |date=31 December 1904 |accessdate=28 December 2014 |page=38 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> He quit his studies in late 1906 or early 1907 to work for the Adelaide ''[[Advertiser (Adelaide)|Advertiser]]''<ref name=retirement>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article107030863 |title=Sir Lloyd Dumas to retire. |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |date=9 March 1967 |accessdate=29 December 2014 |page=39 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and in mid-1910 helped out as interim [[Murray Bridge, South Australia|Murray Bridge]] correspondent for his father's newspaper.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147739504 |title=A Popular Journalist |newspaper=[[The Courier (Mount Barker)|The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser]] |location=SA |date=10 June 1910 |accessdate=28 December 2014 |page=4 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> In 1911 he was one of the founders of the South Australian branch of the [[Australian Journalists' Association]].<ref name=adb>S. Cockburn, [http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dumas-sir-frederick-lloyd-10058/text17741 'Dumas, Sir Frederick Lloyd (1891–1973)'], ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1996, accessed online 29 December 2014</ref> In 1914 he left for Victoria.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59364840 |title=Personalities of the Week |newspaper=[[The Mail (Adelaide)|The Mail]] |location=Adelaide |date=12 December 1914 |accessdate=28 December 2014 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

Around 1915 he accepted a position on the literary staff of the ''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]'', and worked as a Federal [[roundsman]].{{what|date=July 2023}} He publicly supported the pro-conscription stance of Prime Minister [[WilliamBilly Morris Hughes|Hughes]] and was chosen by Hughes to manage the "pro" campaign for the [[Australian plebiscite, 1917|second conscription referendum]].<ref name=retirement/> In 1918 Dumas accompanied him and Minister for the Navy [[Joseph Cook|Cook]] to the Imperial Conference in England.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147706184 |title=Personal |newspaper=[[The Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser]] |location=SA |date=26 April 1918 |accessdate=28 December 2014 |page=2 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

He returned to the ''Argus'' after the war. Around 1922 the ''Melbourne Sun'' and ''[[The Sun News-Pictorial|Sun News-Pictorial]]'' had been founded by the publishers of the Sydney ''[[The Sun (Sydney)|Sun]] ''to break into the Melbourne market. The daily newspaper failed, with a loss of between £120,000 and £150,000 in the first few years, but the ''Sun News-Pictorial'' was quite successful, and was purchased by the ''[[The Herald and& Weekly Times|Herald and Weekly Times Ltd.]]'' in 1925.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110086530 |title=Here and There |newspaper=[[Taralga Echo]] |location=NSW |date=2 May 1925 |accessdate=1 January 2015 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Dumas was hired to oversee the transition and has been credited with the paper's subsequent success.

With the advent of (later Sir) [[Thomas Playford IV|Thomas Playford]] as Liberal Premier, Dumas found a leader whom he could whole-heartedly support. Playford had ambitious plans to encourage multi-national companies to establish manufacturing bases in the State, and immediately after World War II, with the support of ''The Advertiser'' and an electoral system biased towards country voters, immediately set about implementing his plans, which involved nationalizing and upgrading the Adelaide Electric Supply Company and the various regional electricity providers as the [[Electricity Trust of South Australia]] (ETSA) and establishing the Housing Trust to provide austere but economical housing for workers with families, and courting major overseas companies such as [[General Motors]] and [[Philips|Philips Lighting and Electrical]] to establish manufacturing bases in South Australia, as well as encouraging established local companies such as [[BHP Billiton|BHP]], [[Pope Products]], [[Perry Engineering]], [[Clipsal]], Simpsons, SABCO and Actil to expand,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43506995 |title=Expansion of S.A. Industries |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)|The Advertiser]] |location=Adelaide |date=18 August 1945 |accessdate=3 January 2015 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

He was a director of Australian Newsprint Mills Pty Ltd., a board-member of [[The Herald and Weekly Times|Herald and Weekly Times Ltd]] and chairman of directors of Reuters News Agency. He was on the board of the [[Art Gallery of South Australia|National Gallery of South Australia]] and chairman from 1955 to 1963. In addition, he sat on the board of directors of [[Elders Limited|Elder, Smith & Co. Ltd]] from 1941 to 1967.

*Vivienne Lloyd Dumas, born 22 January 1927 at Camberwell, Victoria. Vivienne married Thomson Hilton Leys, in 1948. She moved to New Zealand and had 5 children. Four sons - Stephen, Mark, Simon and Andrew, and a daughter Phillipa.

S. Cockburn, ''Dumas, Sir Frederick Lloyd (1891–1973)'', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, *[http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dumas-sir-frederick-lloyd-10058/text17741 S. Cockburn, published''Dumas, firstSir inFrederick hardcopyLloyd 1996(1891–1973)''], accessedAustralian onlineDictionary 28of December 2014.Biography